Like the United States, Haiti was a colony; like the United States, Haiti freed itself from its colonial master, France. Clearly, President Donald Trump doesn't know U.S. history and ignores the fact that Haitians participated in the American Revolution. In 1779, 500 Haitian soldiers, many of whom gave their lives for our cause, joined America's colonists to drive the British from Savannah, Ga. The Haitian Revolution was the first successful slave revolution in the world while the American Revolution was predicated on the continuation of slavery, followed by Jim Crow laws and their aftermath well into the 1960s. Haiti has economic challenges; some are directly related to our 19-year occupation of that nation and the policies that followed. Trump's characterization of Haiti displays the depth of his ignorance and the vulgarity of his language.

Eloise A. Briere

Delmar

Professor emerita

French and Francophone studies

University at Albany